Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Short Interest Up 6.4% in March

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,810,000 shares, an increase of 6.4% from the March 15th total of 25,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 12.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BXMT shares. Bank of America lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.83.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

NYSE:BXMT opened at $18.23 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.70. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1 year low of $16.83 and a 1 year high of $23.82.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.60%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,274 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $46,435.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,967,565.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,274 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total transaction of $46,435.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,967,565.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,275 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.25, for a total value of $46,068.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,888,465.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,540 shares of company stock valued at $112,642 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 15.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,643,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $405,492,000 after buying an additional 2,470,412 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 7,948,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $169,074,000 after buying an additional 686,881 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,787,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,136,000 after purchasing an additional 12,582 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.2% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,723,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $66,468,000 after purchasing an additional 545,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,277,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,498,000 after purchasing an additional 656,329 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc, a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets.